(사진제공=AP통신)
(사진제공=AP통신)
[KNS뉴스통신=김희광 기자] 수백만명의 사람들이 매일 복용하는 처방 의약품 가격이 인하될 것으로 보인다.
콜레스테롤 치료약 리피토정과 동맥경화용제 플라빅스정과 같이 세계에서 가장 많이 팔리는 20개 약품 가운데 7개가 17개월 안에 특허가 만료될 것으로 알려졌다.
영국에 본부를 둔 이벨류에이트 파마는 2016년까지 세계 연매출 2,550억 달러의 약품브랜드의 특허가 만료 되면서 사상 유래가 없는 브랜드 약값 하락으로 이어질 것으로 내다봤다.
2012년 9월까지 특허 만료되는 브랜드 의약품에는 4백 30만 미국인이 복용하는 리피토정과 1백 4십만이 복용하는 플라빅스정등, 처방약 시장의 15%에 해당하는 브랜드 의약품의 특허만료가 피크를 이룰 전망이다.
(영문기사 원문)
Drug prices to plummet in wave of expiring patents
The cost of prescription medicines used by millions of people every day is about to plummet.
The next 14 months will bring generic versions of seven of the world's 20 best-selling drugs, including the top two: cholesterol fighter Lipitor and blood thinner Plavix.
The magnitude of this wave of expiring drugs patents is unprecedented. Between now and 2016, blockbusters with about $255 billion in global annual sales are set to go off patent, notes EvaluatePharma Ltd., a London research firm. Generic competition will decimate sales of the brand-name drugs and slash the cost to patients and American companies that provide health insurance benefits.
Top drugs getting generic competition by September 2012 are taken by millions every day: Lipitor alone is taken by about 4.3 million Americans and Plavix by 1.4 million. Generic versions of big-selling drugs for blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, depression, high triglycerides, HIV and bipolar disorder also are coming by then.
The flood of generics will continue for the next decade or so, as about 120 brand-name prescription drugs lose market exclusivity, according to prescription benefit manager Medco Health Solutions Inc.
"My estimation is at least 15 percent of the population is currently using one of the drugs whose patents will expire in 2011 or 2012," says Joel Owerbach, chief pharmacy officer for Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, which serves most of upstate New York.
Those patients, along with U.S. businesses and taxpayers who help pay for prescription drugs through corporate and government prescription plans, collectively will save a small fortune. That's because generic drugs typically cost 20 percent to 80 percent less than the brand names.
김희광 기자 april4241@naver.com
